Of Essence And Ice Cream
by Zephyr Fyrian
Summary: Jane Foster is trying to recuperate from the madness in her life back in her lab in Puente Antiguo (after the Avengers put an end to Loki's scheming up in New York) but Thor still hasn't come to visit her. However, as punishment for his actions on Midgard, Loki is sentenced to the same banishment as Thor was, and now Jane is stuck with a mortal Loki. Lokane, Post-Avengers.


**(A/N) Hello everyone! I'm sorry for again disappearing off of the face of the Earth, but I'm back now. I'm still working on _A Breath of Life_, for those of you that are reading that, but it's been slow going since _Marvel_ has sort of taken over my brain. XD.**

**I've watched _Thor_ probably seven times in the past month(lol), so I had to write something to get all of this feverish excitement out of my body.**

**This is post-Avengers, in case you wanted to know. :D**

**Also, it was partially inspired by Captbexx's artwork on DeviantArt, and I totally recommend you go check them out. Their art is amazing.**

**Now, I shall shut up and let you read my fist Lokane fic.**

**Happy reading!**

* * *

**_Of Essence And Ice Cream_**

It had been a perfectly normal day, on a perfectly normal desert(except for the remnants of the Bifrost incursion), in a perfectly normal lab.

Okay, maybe I'm overstating things.

But everything was more ordinary than ordinary when compared with the- but I digress, I'm getting ahead of myself here. I should probably start with the beginning, shouldn't I? Just to make sure you aren't lost.

My name is Jane Foster.

I am an astrophysicist living in Puente Antiguo, New Mexico, with my intern Darcy Lewis and my mentor, Erik Selvig.

Darcy is actually the one who spurred me into writing this, so if I ramble too much, please blame her and not me. You could also blame the random immortals that tend to show up in my life from time to time, they kinda screw with my brain.

First it was Thor.

I actually hit him with my van twice. Or, well, once. Darcy hit him the first time(she still says it was my fault).

Thor showed up out of nowhere, falling out of a storm, and threw my life into chaos in almost record time. It was quite impressive, actually. When S. H. I. E. L. D. confiscated my stuff, Thor brought my journal back, and even helped me understand more about our universe. Mainly, Yggdrasil, the Worlds' Tree, and the Nine Realms.

I spent all of three days with Thor, and I had developed strong feelings for him(i.e., love), but it was not to be. When Thor finally did come back, I didn't even see him until his lunatic brother attacked New York and basically razed it to the ground.

What a psycho.

…a psycho who is currently sitting in my trailer, on my bed, eating ice cream.

It's a bit cute, actually.

No no no no, 'cute' and 'Loki' do not go together Jane, snap out of it. Just because he's watching you with that adorably confused expression on his face doesn't- darn, I called him 'adorable'.

How did I end up sitting in my trailer eating ice cream with the god of mischief?

I'm honestly not sure.

And he still hasn't told me why he's blue. _Literally_. His skin is dark blue. I really want to touch it, because it looks so different than human skin, but everytime I try he moves out of reach.

Huh. Maybe he doesn't like being touched.

Anyway, it all started when Darcy left…

* * *

"Okay, so you're absolutely completely sure that Fandral would not be interested in me?" Darcy asked, while peeling back the wrapper of a granola bar.

"Darcy," I sighed, rubbing my head. "We've been over this."

"I know, I know," Darcy held up a hand in surrender(the other hand was being used for eating purposes). "'Asgardian law dictates that Aesir and mortals cannot have romantic relations unless the mortal is planning to wed the Aesir and to become Aesir his or herself.' Blah blah blah, and so on. I was joking, okay? You seemed kinda down, I wanted to cheer you up."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but-" I began, but Darcy cut me off.

"Hey, hey, I have an idea," her face lit up and she dropped the granola bar back onto the table. "You stay here, I'll be back in a few hours, 'kay?"

"Darcy-"

"Uh-uh," she waggled her finger at me, a sly grin on her face. "You will stay here while I go and get an early birthday gift. Stay put, Jane, and I mean it. You are hereby confined to the lab and trailer for the rest of the day. Or, until I say otherwise. I'll be back later, see ya!"

And with that, Darcy ran out the door, laughing to herself.

I scowled, setting down the cup of coffee I'd been drinking. What could Darcy be doing?

Suddenly, there was a loud _whoosh_ and a blinding flash of light, similar to that of the Bifrost activating, and then all was silent.

I slowly crept over to the door and looked out, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. That flash was awfully close; the Bifrost site was several hundred yards from the lab, so it couldn't have come from that, could it?

I glanced up to see a shadow moving within my trailer.

I froze.

Picking up the gun that Erik had insisted I keep, I exited the lab and walked to the small trailer. I didn't really know how to work the gun, but hopefully it was just some petty robber who would be intimidated and not an all-powerful unearthly being who was actually a threat.

It was neither.

Kind of.

I opened the door and walked inside, the gun hidden behind my leg, and immediately stopped in my tracks, staring at the strange creature sitting on my tiny excuse for a bed.

He had black hair that swept down the back of his neck, and appeared to be wearing some sort of leather armor, much like Thor's, only this man's was gold and green and not silver and red.

His actual self, however, was what cause me to freeze.

His skin was a strange shade of dark sapphire blue, with raised rune-like markings on his forehead and the backs of his hands.

He looked up and I took in a startled breath; his eyes were iris-less, with blood red scleras.

"Jane Foster," he breathed, standing up. He towered over me, dwarfing the trailer as well, though that didn't take much.

"Who- who are you?" I asked slowly, fingering the gun.

He frowned and canted his head at me.

"You don't-" he paused, reconsidering his words. "No, I suppose you wouldn't, would you? Especially with my…compromised appearance."

He shook his head and cleared his throat.

"I am Loki, of Asgard." he stated, standing slightly straighter, which made me and the trailer seem even smaller.

"Loki?" I narrowed my eyes angrily. "You- you're the one who declared war on Earth and destroyed part of a famous city!"

He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could I reeled my arm back and slapped him across the face.

"That was for New York!" I snarled, stepping back and crossing my arms, the gun still clutched in my other hand.

Loki slowly reached up and touched his cheek, staring at me like I was an alien.

"Now, then," he raised his hands in surrender. "No need to get up in arms, Lady Foster."

"Why are you here, Loki?" I glared at him, examining his weird blue skin and wondering why on Earth it was blue.

"This is my punishment for trying to rule Midgard," Loki replied bitterly. "I was banished like Thor, stripped of all magical abilities, and sentenced to a mortal life until I 'repent'."

"Oh, so this is 'Asgardian justice' as Thor says?" I scowled at him. "Justice; Thor, who doesn't even bother to come _visit _me when he comes back to Earth, dumps me with his criminal brother, thinking that _somehow,_ this is safe for me."

"I have no magic," Loki interjected, holding up his hands. What, did he think I'd believe him because his hands didn't_ look_ magical? Well, they did. I mean, they're blue.

"And?" I raised an eyebrow. "You're the god of lies, Loki! Do you really think I'll believe that you don't have _any _magic left?"

Loki fell silent, frowning.

"And why are you blue?" I demanded, stepping closer to him and reaching out to grab his hand. I'd slapped him, sure, but I hadn't really had time to process how his skin felt.

Loki discreetly linked his hands behind his back, backing away slowly.

"Before I explain that, Lady Foster," Loki leaned over slightly, his red eyes locking onto my brown ones. "I have a very important question to ask you."

I waited.

"Thor made some kind of joke earlier," Loki began, already his mouth was twisting into a scowl. "At my expense of course, though I didn't quite get it, and he mentioned some Midgardian something called 'ice cream'. How can you procure cream from ice? Or does the ice come from the cream?"

I stared blankly at him.

Loki Odinson, the god of mischief, the Liesmith, the Silvertongue, was asking me what _ice cream _was?

And here I thought Thor was weirdest thing that had happened to me.

"Lady Foster?" Loki prodded.

"Oh, sorry," I blinked and shook my head, laughing a little. "Ice cream is just frozen cream. You, um, churn the cream while freezing it."

Loki blinked his crimson eyes in confusion.

"Do you want some?" I offered, feeling a bit uncomfortable with his red gaze focused on me.

"Is it edible?" Loki canted his head again.

"Of course it is," I snapped indignantly, opening my annoyingly small freezer and pulling out the small carton of vanilla ice cream I had stowed away secretly in there(Darcy liked to steal my ice cream).

I searched around a bit and found a spoon somewhere, before opening the carton and spooning out some of the ice cream. I turned back to Loki, who was watching me intently, and held the spoon out. Loki eyed it curiously before carefully taking the spoon from my hand(making sure our fingers didn't touch), and lifting it to his mouth. He hesitated, probably wary that I would poison him, even though he had been watching me the entire time I'd gotten it, and then slowly slipped the spoon into his mouth.

* * *

And so now, I am sitting on my very cramped little bed with Loki Odinson, eating ice cream.

I look over at him and he glances up, an innocent look on his face. Lies.

"So Asgard doesn't have ice cream?" I ask, poking the chunks of melting cream in my bowl.

Loki shakes his head.

"No," he answers, not taking his eyes off of me. "And as painful as it is to say, I actually agree with Thor on this topic. It is incredible."

I smile, amused.

"Are you ever going to explain why Odin turned you blue when he took your magic?" I raise an eyebrow, watching as Loki's expression turns from contentment to bitterness and anger.

"Odin didn't turn me _blue," _he hisses, looking down. "He removed the glamour spell he'd put on me when I was a small child."

"Why did that make you blue?"

Loki looks up and glares, but I sense he isn't angry as much as sad. Like a wounded animal, he lashes out when someone comes close to his injury.

"Did Thor not tell you my true parentage?" Loki snarls, not meeting my eyes.

_"Thor_ didn't tell me _anything," _I respond.

"I am adopted," Loki says, staring down absently at the bowl in his hands. "Odin found me abandoned in the aftermath of the war with Jotunheim. I was very small, for a Frost Giant child, and I assume that was why my parents left me to die. I wasn't strong enough."

"You're a Frost Giant?" I stare at him, startled. "So that's why your skin is blue?"

"Yes," Loki answers despondently. "Odin chose not to tell me, planning to use me as a pawn for peace between Jotunheim and Asgard. When Thor dragged myself, Lady Sif, and the Warriors Three to Jotunheim, we ended up fighting, unsurprisingly. During the fight, Volstagg called out after being grabbed by a Jotun, 'don't let them touch you!'. A Frost Giant's skin is colder than ice, and would give even an Aesir severe frostbite, but when the Jotun I was fighting touched my arm, my skin began shifting to dark blue like that of a Jotun."

Loki pauses, looking down and his blue-skinned hands.

"Confused, and very much afraid, I went into the weapons vault where Odin kept the Ice Casket." Loki continues, clenching his hands into fists. "As soon as my hands touched the Casket the Jotun skin started taking over. I asked my- I asked Odin if I was cursed, and he told me that I wasn't Aesir, I never had been, and that everything he had ever told me was a lie."

I blankly stare, shocked by Loki's story. Thor had told me his father, Odin, was a great and just man, not a manipulative one. Was Loki lying? He couldn't have gotten the name 'Liesmith' for nothing, but the hurt and betrayal in his eyes didn't seem faked.

"I'm sorry," I say truthfully. "I'm sure Odin was just trying to protect you."

Loki scoffs, turning away from me.

"I appreciate your kindness and sympathy, Lady Foster." Loki murmurs, still not facing me. "But Odin used me. And for that I cannot forgive him."

I fall silent.

Suddenly, something occurs to me.

"My hand," I say blankly. "It isn't frostbitten."

"What?" Loki turns, looking at me confusedly.

"You said skin on skin contact with a Jotun would give even an Aesir frostbite," I explain, and then hold up my unharmed hand. "I slapped you, touching your Jotun skin, but my hand is fine."

Loki's eyes grow wide and he crawls closer to me on the squished bed, examining my hand curiously. He seems to only get more confused, and finally he raises his own hand and carefully touches my palm with his forefinger.

Nothing happens.

Except that I discover that his skin is really, _really, _cold.

Loki inhales sharply, and then his entire hand engulfs my much smaller one, his thumb rubbing over my pulse.

"What is this sorcery?" he murmurs, his hand trailing up from mine to my elbow, and from there to my shoulder, and then finally to my neck, where he lets it rest against my collarbones.

I open my mouth to say something, feeling rather frightened by his sudden advance, but he draws himself away, his hand leaving my neck. I discreetly try to warm my neck and arm back up, since Loki's hand was, as he said, colder than ice, but I sense I am not being all that discrete.

"Are you afraid, Jane?" he asks me quietly, as far away from me as the bed allows. "Afraid of me?"

He doesn't have that intimidating, powerful, and frightening aura he had when he had tried to take over. I had only been watching it on a screen and I could feel darkness radiating off of him.

But that doesn't mean I don't fear him.

I'm not foolishly brave, I know my limits, and I know that I am only human. Even if Loki's magic was stripped from him by Odin, which I don't believe for a second(except I know Odin had to have to done something, as Loki doesn't seem like he'd stay in Jotun form of his own free will), Loki can still overpower me in a second.

Am I afraid of his abilities? Yes. Without a doubt.

Am I afraid of Loki, himself? Not exactly. He doesn't seem hostile, not quite, but he's incredibly hard to read.

I look up from where I'd been staring at my hand, and see that Loki has curled in on himself, his knees drawn up to his chest and his forehead resting against them.

"Loki?" I prod, setting my ice cream bowl down on the floor.

"Do you find me repulsive?" he whispers, and I barely catch what he says. "Do you cower from me, because of my monstrous appearance? Because of what I am? I am a monster; a Frost Giant. You_ should_ be afraid. You_ should_ fear me. Even without my frostbite touch, I could still kill you in an instant."

Though his words sound harsh, Loki's tone is nothing of the sort. He sounds broken and lost and scared, and has gone too long thinking he is unloveable because of something he had no control over.

"No," I say softly, crawling closer until I am sitting beside him. "No, I am not afraid, because you have given me no reason to be. No, I do not find you repulsive, I find you fascinating; your skin really is a pretty color. No, I do not cower from you because of your monstrous appearance, because it isn't monstrous, it's beautiful, and I don't cower at all. No, Loki, you are not a monster, you are the son of Odin All-Father and Queen Frigga, and the brother of Thor, and they love you and want you to come home, so stop trying to pretend otherwise."

I take a deep breath.

"I will help you, Loki Odinson, because you are not a monster, and you need to realize that." I say with finality. "Now stop sulking and look at me."

Loki lifts his head, his red eyes meeting mine.

"Laufeyson," he says softly. "Not Odinson, Laufeyson. Laufey was the Frost Giants' king, I am his son."

"Maybe biologically," I concede, not willing to let him sink back into his misery. "But Odin and Frigga raised you, and Thor grew up with you, so you are their family. Maybe you are Laufeyson by birth, but you are Odinson by heart."

Loki stares at me, his hand slowly reaching up to touch my cheek.

"How can it be that a mortal like yourself knows so much?" Loki whispers, his hand curving around my jaw. "Even my Jotun blood senses how strong you are."

"What does that mean?" I ask, trying not to flinch away from Loki's hand.

His face freezes and he must've realized he said something he shouldn't have.

"What do you mean, 'your Jotun blood senses it'?" I repeat, gently curling my own fingers around his wrist to hold his hand against my cheek. As strange as it seems, it appears as if physical touch calms him, which seems odd to me since he appears antisocial.

"I-" Loki pauses, and I think his face is flushed, though it's hard to tell with the blue skin. "When I am in Jotun form, my magic is enhanced, and I can…how to explain this…it is like everyone's mind has a certain, taste, if you will. I say mind, but it is more like your essence, your being. Most people's essence is off-putting, not unpleasant, but not desirable in any way. Some people's, like my…my mother's, is comforting and cozy. Thor's is bright and loud, and very strong, while Mother's is gentler and softer.

"Yours, Jane, is strong too, but it is thrilling as well. Not overbearing like Thor's, and not fragile like Mother's; it is somewhere in between, a perfect balance between the two. I have never come across someone's essence that calls out to my very being like yours does. It is…the strangest thing."

I take in this information, pondering it.

"So, what exactly does that mean?" I laugh nervously, because I think I _do _know what that means.

"Asgard does not have many texts on Frost Giants, but I think remember reading about something like this while on Alfheim." Loki begins slowly, watching me warily. "I believe Frigga's and Thor's essences were comforting to me because my own essence recognizes them as family. Yours, however, I believe it calls out to mine because you, so far, are the only woman I have met that has the capability of-"

Loki cuts himself off, his blue skin turning slightly purple as he flushed.

"Loki?" I drop my hand from his and cup the side of his face.

Can this get any more awkward? I don't think so.

"You are the only woman capable of- oh great Valhalla, what is wrong with me-" Loki closes his eyes and sighes. "You are the only woman I have met who is strong enough to concieve and birth my children."

I freeze and my face grows hot.

Oh.

I stand corrected. This certainly _could _get more awkward.

Yeah, I can understand why that was hard to get out.

* * *

**(A/N) I actually like this one. **

**Also, I'm antisocial and I like cuddling and hugs, so I guess it isn't unheard of. I don't like poking though.**

**I hope you liked this little Lokane oneshot, and maybe I'll write some more soon. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch _The Avengers_ for the third time this week. Thanks for reading! :3**


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